A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2020
IN BRIEF
Two Seaside men charged
with attempted murder
Two Seaside men have been arraigned for attempted
murder in the second degree.
Christopher Neil Quiggle-Boyer, 35, and Gary Alen
Lane Gobin, 40, were arrested on Oct. 7 after an assault
at a Seaside apartment that left three men injured.
Boyer was charged Thursday with attempted murder
in the second degree, assault in the first degree, three
counts of assault in the second degree, burglary in the
first degree, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon and
two counts of menacing.
Gobin was charged Friday with attempted murder in
the second degree, assault in the first degree, two counts
of assault in the second degree, burglary in the first
degree, unlawful use of a weapon and menacing.
— The Astorian
DEATH
Oct. 17, 2020
HENDRICKSON, Virginia Sue, 41, of Astoria,
died in Astoria. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mortuary in
Astoria is in charge of the arrangements.
MEMORIALS
Cemetery, 575 S.W. 18th
St. in Warrenton. Flowers
can be delivered to the War
renton First Baptist Church
DEAL, Charles (Chuck)
Warren — Burial at 2 p.m.,
Greenwood
Cemetery,
91569 Oregon Highway
Saturday, Oct. 24
ANDRIESIAN, Lor
raine Adelle — Memorial
at 11 a.m., Warrenton First
Baptist Church, 30 N.E.
First St. in Warrenton, fol
lowed by a social hour
and potluck, then a grave
side service at Ocean View
CLAMMING
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Elizabeth Cronen pushes her clam
gun into the wet sand at Sunset
Beach on Thursday evening.
202 .
BIRTH
Sept. 19, 2020
JENSEN, Jess, and
PAINTER, Anthony, of
Jewell, a girl, Haze’Leigh
Jeanette Painter, bom at
Columbia Memorial Hos
pital in Astoria. Grand
parents are Pam and Ken
Gibson, of Victor, Mon
tana, Mike and Carrie
Jensen, of San Jose, Cal
ifornia, Jeanette Painter,
of Astoria, and Timothy
Painter, of Seaside.
CORRECTIONS
at 636 14th St. was con
structed in 1902 and
served as a convent for
teachers at St. Mary Star
of the Sea School. An A1
story on Aug. 29 incor
rectly stated it was con
structed in 1920 and later
used as a convent for the
Young Ladies Catholic
Academy.
Wrong date — Floyd
Holcom, a candidate for
Astoria City Council, grew
up in Astoria and returned
in 2003 after military ser
vice in Iraq. An A1 story
on Thursday incorrectly
said he returned in 2005.
Construction
date,
school name — The
Frank Patton residence
ON THE RECORD
Highway 30 for attempting
to elude police officers and
reckless driving.
• Robin Deen Rich
ardson, 68, of Gearhart,
was arraigned Friday for
attempting to elude a police
officer, reckless driving
and recklessly endangering
another person.
Unlawful vehicle use
• Jeremy P. Barber, 43,
of Gig Harbor, Washing
ton, was arrested Saturday
at the foot of 22nd Street in
Astoria for unlawful use of
a motor vehicle.
Assault
• Lynsi Jewell, 35, of
Warrenton, was arrested
Saturday on S.W. Har
bor Place in Warrenton for
assault in the fourth degree,
menacing and strangulation.
Harassment
• Chase Daniel Rusi-
novich, 23, of Astoria,
was arrested Saturday on
Bond Street in Astoria for
harassment.
Attempting to elude
• Samuel Alvin Dar
ling, 46, of Portland was
arrested Friday on U.S.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Union Health District of Clatsop County Board, 8 a.m.,
Seaside Convention Center, 415 First Ave.
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:15 p.m., City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board, 5:15 p.m.,
Bob Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Shoreline Sanitary District Board, 7 p.m., Gearhart Her-
tig Station, 33496 West Lake Lane, Warrenton.
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop Soil and Water Conservation District Board,
10 a.m., (electronic meeting).
Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee, 3 p.m., 989 Broadway.
THURSDAY
Sunset Empire Transportation District Board, 9 a.m.,
workshop, (electronic meeting).
Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce, noon, (elec
tronic meeting).
Clatsop County Recreational Lands Planning Advisory
Committee, 1 p.m., (electronic meeting).
the Astorian
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AP Photo
The Big
Questions linger on
Oregon’s coal-free future
By NICK ROSENBERGER
For EO Media Group
Every day, electricity
crackles across power lines
hanging over the sparsely
populated counties of Uma
tilla, Morrow, Gilliam and
Sherman that border the
Columbia River. With the
ongoing global climate cri
sis, the debate about how this
electricity can be produced
by cleaner, renewable energy
continues to heat up.
Nowhere is this more
obvious than with the case of
Portland General Electric’s
attempts to shift away from
coal-generated electricity. As
the state’s last coal-fired plant
closed last week, utilities are
facing a complex road ahead
to close the gap between
renewable and nonrenewable
generation.
PGE, along with Nex-
tEra Energy — one of North
America’s leading renewable
energy companies — is build
ing the Wheatridge Renew
able Energy facility in Morrow
County. The 380-megawatt
facility will employ wind,
solar and battery storage as
one of the nation’s largest
emissions-free electricity pro
ducers. It will open this year
to power 100,000 homes.
Despite breaking records
for Oregon’s largest renew
able energy facility, how
ever, it will not fully cover the
roughly 600 megawatts pro
duced by the now shuttered
Boardman coal-fired plant.
This raises a series of ques
tions about how utilities will
fulfill the needs of Oregonians
while promoting a cleaner,
sustainable future for energy
generation.
PGE and Oregon’s other
providers, such as PacifiCorp,
have several avenues for
ward in the coming years as
the effects of climate change
continue to ravage parts of the
state.
Climate
Changed
Declining cost of
renewable energy
The most popular option
for Oregon, and most ben
eficial for combating cli
mate change, is expanding
the state’s renewable energy
infrastructure. It is likely
the best, cheapest and saf
est option that utilities can
undertake.
petitive with traditional non
renewable energy sources
such as coal. In 2019, wind
cost roughly $41 per mega
watt hour, compared with
$109 for coal.
And, while 2016 legisla
tion set a goal of 50% new
renewable energy production
in the state by 2040, many
experts believe it can reach
an even higher percentage.
“Most people who work
in the electricity indus
try agree that anywhere
from 80-90% of renewable
energy is totally doable,”
said Rebecca Smith, a senior
policy analyst at the Ore
gon Department of Energy.
“That last 10% is where you
see a lot more difference of
opinion between people,”
she said.
DESPITE BREAKING RECORDS
FOR OREGON'S LARGEST
RENEWABLE ENERGY FACILITY,
HOWEVER; IT WILL NOT FULLY
COVER THE ROUGHLY
600 MEGAWATTS PRODUCED
BY THE NOW SHUTTERED
BOARDMAN COAL-FIRED PLANT.
However, it comes with
its own set of limitations and
challenges.
As technology advances,
Oregon utilities have rec
ognized the evolution of
the industry as the costs of
renewables decrease and
consumer appetite increases.
Over the past decade, the
cost of solar energy gener
ation has fallen 89% and
wind power costs have been
trimmed by 70%, according
to Lazard’s 2019 Levelized
Cost of Energy Analysis.
These decreases have
made renewables more com
Bryson Robertson, asso
ciate professor of civil and
construction
engineering
at Oregon State Univer
sity and co-director of the
Pacific Marine Energy Cen
ter, agrees.
“Fifty percent is low.
Like, that’s not a high bar
so Oregon should nail that,”
said Robertson. “When I
start to have misgivings
is when people say 100%
because getting up to 80 or
90 is actually not incredibly
difficult — it’s that last 10%
that is incredibly difficult,”
he said.
According to Robertson,
getting beyond 80% to 90%
renewable energy would be
expensive to implement,
offers diminishing returns
and puts the system’s resil
iency at risk.
Switching entirely to
renewable energy would put
the state’s electrical grid at
risk of not meeting Oregon’s
electrical demands, accord
ing to industry experts.
Weather patterns
play a role
“You cannot turn the
wind on and off when you
need it, or the sun,” said
Steve Corson, a spokesper
son for PGE. “They are vari
able. Their output may come
and go during any given day
and we need other resources
that we can turn on and off
to ensure reliable supply for
customers.”
The diminishing returns
and reliability factor of
renewables force utilities to
rely on energy sources that
can be stockpiled in case of
emergencies and called upon
when needed. These “dis-
patchable resources,” such
as coal or natural gas, can be
used to stabilize the electric
ity system if the renewable
energy system fails to gener
ate enough power, according
to Corson.
In the future, however,
reliance
on
dispatchable
resources
could
decline
with a diversified electrical
grid and new technologies
that meet consumer demand
every second of every day.
These new capabilities add
another safety net to meet
ing the needs of Oregonians.
New technologies
Along with the increas
ing amount of renewable
energy, utilities are develop
ing technologies to expand
See Coal-free future, Page A3